You will never see posts like this from some concerned change merchants on this liberate forum. All you will see is the faults of PDP govs and senators. These are the people who are supposed to usher in the wind of "CHANGE"[color=#006600][/color]



Efforts made yesterday by the 59 senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Senate to resolve the lingering crisis over the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as President of the 8th Senate, ended in fiasco as the senators engaged in fisticuffs.
Disagreement between the two camps which led to verbal outbursts and exchange of blows between senators was sparked off when the senators belonging to the Like Minds and Unity Forum groups failed to reach middle ground on the procedure for the emergence of a candidate for the various leadership positions.
While the Saraki-led Like Minds Senators at the meeting insisted that the candidates for the various positions be zoned and the candidates produced at the caucus level, the Ahmad Lawan group under the aegis of Unity Forum disagreed.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the Like Minds group had already penciled down Senators Ali Ndume ( APC Borno South) for the position of Senate Leader, Sani Yerima ( APC Zamfara West) for Deputy Leadership position, Shola Adeyeye ( Osun Central) as Chief Whip and Francis Alimikhena ( Edo North) as Deputy Chief Whip.
The Unity Forum senators, on the contrary, insisted that all vacant positions be filled by the national leadership of the party.
But the Like Minds senators, however, came up with a zoning formula that gave the position of Majority Leader to the North East; Deputy Majority Leader, North West; Chief Whip, South West; and Deputy Whip, South South, respectively.
According to one of the lawmakers who attended the APC Senators meeting yesterday, Suleiman Hunkuyi (APC, Kaduna North), the problem was caused by attempts by the Saraki-led group to impose its candidates on the party.
The drama started when midway into the meeting which was held behind closed door, an angry Hunkuyi stormed out of the venue and threw the doors open, asking newsmen around to witness the drama.
With the atmosphere already charged, trouble started when Senator Tayo Alsoadura (APC Ondo Central), a member of the Like Minds senators differed over the choice of Senator Sola Adeyeye (APC Osun Central) as Chief Whip.
The lawmaker insisted that Senator Robert Borroffice (APC, Ondo North) was a better candidate to Adeyeye, given his experience as a ranking senator.
However one of the Unity Forum senators, Kabiru Marafa (APC, Zamfara Central), took offence with Senator Alsoadura’s observation and launched an unexpected attack on the latter who staggered backwards and almost fell to the ground. Senators at this point, rushed to the rescue of Alasoadura by forming a wall to prevent him from hitting the ground.
Earlier before the meeting went violent, Saraki had pleaded with the APC senators to forget the past by rallying round his leadership of the Senate and by extension the 8th National Assembly.
He said though a lot has been happening within and outside the political sphere of the party in the last few weeks, but as members of the same house, there was need for them to come together for the benefit of the party and Nigeria.
He said, “Distinguished colleagues, I have convened this meeting for obvious reason, among other things, the need to come together, unite with each other and embrace one another on the platform of love, brotherliness, with the believe that we would all do the needful and put our differences behind us and forge ahead.
“As we go into this meeting, let us discuss, interact and bear our minds out with the belief that there are solutions to all issues. Every thought and ideas shall be welcomed and every opinion and suggestion will be considered because this is a family affair”.
Speaking to senate correspondents at the sidelines after the fiasco, Senator Abu Ibrahim stated that zoning of the principal officers is an exclusive preserve of the party and the party must wield its stick on any lawmakers who violates the authority of the party.
He said, “The party has come out with its own position and some people are trying to rush, to sabotage the party’s position. We will see whether the senate president will heed the party’s directive. There is the desire among ourselves that we should put this thing behind us and in every election, there will be fallout and disagreements, so obviously, what we are doing is a good thing for politics in Nigeria and the senate.
“It was a good meeting till when things that were not supposed to be brought came in. The issue of zoning of positions should be the full responsibility of the party .What some of us are saying is that we have no power to zone in that meeting; it’s the party that should take that responsibility.”
He further explained that “As far as I am concerned this was never done, I was a principal officer in the last senate, the party gave our names and that’s how I became a principal officer. What I am assuring Nigerians is that the National Assembly is matured enough to forge unity among ourselves and I believe we should do so. This issue will be sorted out in the next 24 hours.
“The party will have to wield its big stick, if anybody decides to go against the directives of the party. The party must take disciplinary action. There was elections between ourselves, it was not heeded, the vice president called a meeting, it was not heeded, the party should come out with its big stick and wield its power on anybody who refuses to accept the authority of the party and deal with them severely,” he said.

BY Adesuwa Tsan and Jonathan Nda-Isaiah

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Dis mad people don't ve time for work, dey only care abt demselves. Dey just use d word "change" to deceive us

Morning gare!

what is the source of your news? nairaland news these days is like dinning with the devil

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kuuljay:
what is the source of your news? nairaland news these days is like dinning with the devil

The source is leadership Newspaper, reported by Adesuwa Tsan and Jonathan Nda-Isaiah

Immature people in leadership nowadays